On the grand company ledger somewhere in BB&T's corporate offices in Winston-Salem, N.C., closing a bank in a place like Shartlesville makes perfect business sense.

But to people in the 252-year-old hamlet off of Interstate 78 - a place noted for Roadside America, billed as "the world's greatest indoor miniature village" - closing the town's only bank doesn't make much sense at all. The branch is scheduled to close Dec. 8.

"It would be a big inconvenience for me," said Leon Huey of Jefferson Township, who had just walked out of the Shartlesville branch at 4 Roadside Drive in Upper Bern Township.

"Everybody is really upset," said Bonnie Kramer, who along with her husband, Ken, owns Kramer's Korner, a convenience store along Old Route 22, the town's main drag.

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BB&T is a growing, banking giant. It has 2,188 branches in 15 states, including 259 in Pennsylvania - the fourth most of any state. The bank had record second quarter earnings this year of $2.9 billion, up 3.9 percent from the same period in 2016. It netted $18 million in interest in the second quarter, and income from fees on deposits, transactions, insufficient funds and more were up $90 million over 2016, according to the company's second quarter earnings statement.

Investors are pleased, and pleasing investors is the name of the game. Sometimes that means closing a branch.

7 Berks closures

After acquiring National Penn Bank for $1.8 billion in April 2016, BB&T closed branches in Exeter, Caernarvon, Spring and Muhlenberg townships, as well as Boyertown. With the planned closures in Shartlesville and Robesonia, BB&T will have 16 financial centers in Berks County, down from a total of 23 full-service branches in April 2016.

The official word from BB&T is that the bank routinely reviews the performance of all its branches, and thins the ranks when they aren't performing.

To locals, however, closing the Shartlesville bank is like firing a team mascot: He may not be an impact player but everyone liked him.

Huey, a retired state trooper who restores old cars as a hobby, sometimes needs more cash than an ATM can provide. "There are many banking features I require that go past the MAC machine," he said, adding that there is a limit to how much you can get out of the automated-teller machines.

"Or if you need to change one of your loans for one reason or another, you've still got to go inside and talk to a manager," he said. "Online banking is wonderful, but you can't get cash sitting in your living room."

Huey said he would have to travel to go to another branch. The next nearest BB&T branch is at 201 Main St. in Bernville, nearly 6 miles away, or the one at 1251 Centre Turnpike in Orwigsburg, about 9 miles away.

There are several other banks in Hamburg, including Tompkins Vist, Wells Fargo, M&T and Fulton.

"This may end up forcing people to change banks," Huey said of the Shartlesville bank closing.

Loss of local flavor

When word trickled out that the Shartlesville BB&T would be closing, Kramer's convenience store customers began grumbling.

"It's easy for my husband to close for five minutes and run to the bank to do our deposits," Kramer explained. "Now we have to run all the way to Bernville. I can't leave my store and close my business to run to Bernville. I'm going to lose business."

Kramer is a people person, who greets her customers by name when they come in for their lottery tickets, cigarettes, sodas or newspapers.

"I like to go in the bank," she said. "I like that one-on-one customer service. I like to make sure what I'm doing. When you have that personable experience with a customer it brings them back."

Not an easy decision

"We do not take lightly the decision to close a branch," BB&T spokesman David White said in a written communication.

"We have implemented a process whereby we continually review and evaluate the viability, convenience, usage patterns and physical conditions, among other factors, of our financial centers. We do this to ensure all our financial centers meet our clients' needs, provide a leading role in the community and are in line with our strategic objectives."

One of our foremost concerns, he said, is the effect that a branch closing has on the local community.

"We realize that a bank can serve as a financial center and a community cornerstone," White said. "As such, we are very sensitive to the inconvenience and impact of this action, and it is only after extensive analysis, reviewing all options, do we make the difficult decision to close a financial center. Again, we will still have 16 financial centers in Berks County."

Bank was convenient

Tonya Schaner, Upper Bern Township secretary and treasurer, said a rival bank tipped her off about the planned closing of the BB&T branch, where the township does its banking. Schaner said the bank, located about a minute from the township building, had a different vibe before 2016, when it was operated by National Penn.

"We always felt National Penn was a small-town bank," Schaner said.

Ina Stoudt has owned Antique Treasures on the west end of town, a few hundred yards from the BB&T branch, for about 20 years.

"Maybe 25," she said. "A long time."

Stoudt's business is cash or check only. Customers from New York, Virginia, Maryland and other places pass through all the time.

"If they don't have money, they'll go down there (to the BB&T) and get it," Stoudt said. "What I'll have to do (now) is send them to an ATM, which isn't, I guess, too bad."